Regulatory Process & the State's Role (Tom Vilsack, Governor of Iowa)

Tom Vilsack is the Governor of Iowa. Find out what he sees as the state's stake in biotechnology.

Transcript: Regulatory process & state's role:

There is a regulatory process in place that is currently involved in making sure that these products are safe before they are provided for human consumption. There is the United States Department of Agriculture that has extensive regulatory responsibilities over farms that are using biotechnology. There is the Environmental Protection Agency that works closely with the industry in terms of those products that are used to [replace] chemicals and pesticides. They have a role. The Food and Drug Administration also has a series of protocols and testing that biotech products have to go through in order to be able to pass muster and be able to be provided to consumers. So there are in place at the Federal level, regulatory structures. The state's role, I think, is basically educating people about the fact that there are these regulatory structures in place and that they've worked in the past for many, many other products and they're working today for biotech products.